After the acquisition of Great Plains in the early part of this decade, Microsoft made the move to replace Pervasive SQL, the existing database for Great Plains, with the MSDE platform. MSDE made sense at the time and allowed Microsoft to phase out the Pervasive SQL platform in a quick and easy fashion. For users still on the MSDE platform, what was once free and easy has become a ticking time bomb that needs to be defused.
The MSDE or Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine Platform has restrictions on it that will cause issues for any company that has grown since it first installed the Great Plains/MSDE solution. These limitations include:
- 2GB database size limit
- Support for up to 2 CPU on a Windows NT or Windows 2000 server
- No publishing for transaction replication
- No Database Server Failover Support
- No full-text search
- No GUI interface
- No OLAP
- No English Query
- No SQL books online
Additionally, the current MSDE version has been discontinued and will soon be no longer supported. As SQL is a back-end server, customers who have purchased this licensing probably are not aware of the serious issues that could affect their ERP application. The bottom line is that if your existing Dynamics GP solution is utilizing this database you should make all necessary arrangements to upgrade and move off of this platform ASAP.
Since 1985, Micro Force has been serving the New York Metro region as the Largest and Most Experienced GP-Only Gold Certified Partner.
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